Jonathan Ive honoured with gold Blue Peter badge

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design Sir Jonathan Ive has been awarded a gold Blue Peter badge, coinciding with a special gadget-themed episode of the children’s television show.

Ive, widely accredited with being the design mastermind behind Apple’s most popular devices, including the iPod, iMac and iPad mini has been honoured by the BBC’s longstanding children’s programme for his services to the technology industry.

Honoured as an “inspiration to children around the world,” Ive has been awarded the gold Blue Peter badge in a pre-recorded segment of a special gadget-themed episode of the much loved show that will be aired tomorrow, Saturday February 16. Previous recipients of the gold Blue Peter Badge, an award that has been given out to fewer than 1,000 recipients, include illustrator Quinton Blake, author JK Rowling and footballer David Beckham.

Describing the award as “absolutely incredible,” Ive has spoken out on the influence Blue Peter has had, a show he admits to watching as a child. “I loved the way there was just products that you thought were no longer useful, but reusing them, it was fantastic.”

The latest in a long line of achievements bestowed upon the Apple design chief, Jonathan Ive became a Sir last May when he was knighted at Buckingham Palace for services to design and enterprise. More recently, Ive’s Apple team were announced as the best brand and design studio of the past 50 years by the Design and Art Direction awards.

Having stamped his design on Apple’s leading hardware offerings of recent years, a period that has seen Apple become the world’s most valuable company, Ive, in October, was promoted to Apple’s Senior Vice President of Industrial Design, a title that will see him take design control of the company’s software options, including the iPhone and iPad powering iOS mobile operating system.

Following the recent staffing restructure, it was announced Ive will now offer “leadership and direction for human interface across the company,” a move that has been made to stem the onslaught of competition from Android.

In the upcoming episode of Blue Peter, Ive will be shown offering advice to designs sent in by viewers, as well as presenting the show with his own rendition of the iconic Blue Peter badge. Made from solid aluminium, hewn by Apple’s manufacturing equipment, Ive’s gift comes with the show’s classic catchphrase: “Here’s one that we made earlier.”

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